


Family

by Pita Pan (Lizlow)



Category: Collar x Malice (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Post-Good End, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-07-29 21:15:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16272488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizlow/pseuds/Pita%20Pan
Summary: There once lived a stray cat, white in fur color. One day, an unlucky little black cat wandered in his life, becoming a 'star' in his eyes, but he didn't understand why.





	Family

**Author's Note:**

> Shiraishi's rather difficult to really understand fully -- he's very complicated! I went with this format, because it felt like the best way to try to see things from his end, even a little. As with some previous fics, this one was written as part of a personal writing challenge on tumblr!

There once was a stray cat, white in fur color. He got along some way or another with some Miso Soup and a Papa Wolf. One day, an unlucky little black cat wandered into their lives, but she became a star, putting everyone before herself, even if she was ‘afraid.’

The white cat was an outlier, even if the Papa Wolf watched over him like all the others, because he kept lying. Even the sheep-dog and the puppy who played outside fit the world better than him. He didn’t belong in their office family, but he pretended he did, teasing the Enoki of the Miso Soup, annoying the Seaweed, joking a child’s act to the Papa Wolf.

But the white cat had a mission, an interesting one: to get close to the black cat.

To get close to the ‘Star.”

The white cat, who didn’t know much about “attachment” taught himself more, he watched every expression that the ‘Star’ could give, finding new firsts every day. He didn’t know why she became happy, or sad, or mad, at the things he said, or the things that happened, but he gradually figured out that if he listened to her concerns, things got better.

The stray cat’s mission was given by a faceless man, whose voice echoed orders that he called justice seeking. They were a test, and he wanted to test how brilliantly the ‘Star’ could last, once she found out the white cat was nothing more than bad.

He ‘liked’ being beside her, as peculiar as it sounded, like her ‘meow’ had taken a special pitch, and she charmed the white cat’s frozen heart. He learned of her little brother, a pouty, smaller cat, the uncle that got excited easily, and of the other people that were so easily drawn to her.

So he made choices that would hurt others, to protect her. He got inside the enemy lines, by betraying others, just to keep the ‘Star’ shining. For one strike, he felt bad, but he knew he wouldn’t have felt anything if it was any other. It had to be done, because she was his world’s happiness.

A selfish cat, acting out of line, losing every ‘place’ he lingered in. Soon, he had nothing left, except for a chance for her to be okay. He’d do anything to free her, even if it was all on his own selfish, self-fulfilling terms.

She became reason to him, after all. She wasn’t boring in the slightest. Her stubborn ideals had…  _freed_  him, from his own chains. He had reason to be the white cat, and not crawl back to the shadows and disappear like some of the others. She gave him a true ‘home.’

Because of her, he became his own person.

* * *

Shiraishi finishes his tale, and his ‘patient’ looks at him. Her knitting rests on her lap; she had stopped her actions midway through.  _Tears_.

He doesn’t say the ‘ending’ of the story.  _Even with her weakest breath, the ‘Star’ that was the black cat decided to trust the dirty, white cat. And, in the end, she got hurt, and had to be separated from her dear family. Only the Papa Wolf knew where she ended up._

Finally, she speaks, her voice soft, concerned, “Sensei, what was the white cat’s name?”

“Hmm? Whatever do you mean, Ichika-chan?”

“The black cat was a ‘Star’ but who was the white cat?”

“…One of hundreds, but I suppose some would call him ‘Fourteen.’”

Green eyes look at him – puzzled, he’d say – perhaps at his hesitance? Just as he’s studied her, she studies him, but maybe that’s just because she still hasn’t entirely recovered. Him being her only contact… He knows this is selfish, but just for a little longer, he…

“I think, I think the ‘Star’ would… want Fourteen to be happy.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because… I felt something familiar about it, and I was the ‘Star’ I would want Fourteen to be happy.”

“You really haven’t changed a bit.”

“Sensei?”

“Never mind me. That’s all for today. Rest well, Ichika-chan.”

Shiraishi stands, turning his back. It’s painful, knowing he’s so close, yet so far, knowing that he has these words he cannot say, that he doesn’t deserve to say. He’ll still smile for her, since smiling seems to relax her, since she might recover better if she’s not tainted by everything of him.

Soon, she’ll be ready to leave, and he’ll let her go. For the time being, this is how ‘their’ family is, even if it’s not ‘right.’ He touches the black cat strap that’s in his pocket, the one from that day.

“You’ll be back tomorrow, right?”

He faces back at her, and nods, “Of course. I’ll be by your side, until ‘that day’ comes.”

“I’m glad. See you tomorrow, Sensei.”

This terribly honest girl, the one he wishes to protect, the one he doesn’t want to lose. His ‘most precious’ person, his ‘number one.’ These feelings are troublesome and very unexpected. How is he supposed to leave if she says it like that?

_Seriously, you’re a needy kitten, Ichika-chan_.  _You’re not fair at all_.


End file.
